FROM CHARLIE CHAN: “Remember old saying: "Earthquake may shatter the rock, but sand upon which rock stood still right there in same old place.”

BEFORE WE BEGIN… Our Charlie Chan Family Website has, for over 20 years, been supported by Tripod, a Website-building support that offered “Trellix” as a tool by which to build and maintain our site. HOWEVER, Tripod has not fully supported its Trellix tool for some time now, and, as time passes, it is becoming less and less reliable. This has brought about something of an emergency need to move on to some other support ASAP! We are, with the help of some of our Charlie Chan Family members, looking into alternatives. The worst-case scenario would be that the entire site would need to be reconstituted painstakingly from scratch. This would be the proverbial mammoth undertaking, and, hopefully, this will not be what eventually happens! It is still hoped that we can “migrate’ our site to another support. Thank you so much for your understanding if you find errors or old information as well as a lack of new information growing at our present site…

AND, NOW…GREETINGS! This week, as we continue our celebration of the birthday of EARL DERR BIGGERS, we join Charlie Chan in another race against the clock to save the life of an innocent man!

OUR CHAT ROOM: Our Chat Room can be accessed the same way that we accessed by going to our “Chat Room” link at charliechan.info, or use this direct link: http://www.charliechan.info/id17.html

THIS WEEK’S PRESENTATION: “Dark Alibi” (1945; 61 minutes); along with our “extra,” a Charlie Chan radio mystery, (1936; 15 minutes).

FEATURE INTRODUCTION: Ex-convict Thomas Harley is arrested for robbing a bank and killing a bank guard. He claims that he was summoned to a theatrical warehouse by a note that sent to him by a former cellmate named James Wyatt and was subsequently locked inside at the time the robbery and killing took place. The police do not believe his alibi because Wyatt has been dead for eight years. Fingerprints belonging to Harley are found at the crime scene, and he is put on trial, found guilty, and condemned to death. Desperate to prove her father innocent, Harley's daughter, June asks Charlie Chan to help her and her father.

FEATURE NOTES: The film's working titles were “Fatal Fingerprints,” “Fatal Fingertips,” and “Charlie Chan in Alcatraz.” Stock footage used in “Dark Alibi” shows California's San Quentin State Prison. The opening title card reads: "Charlie Chan in 'Dark Alibi.'" The Call Bureau Cast Service Lists Minerva Urecal as "Mrs. Foss." However, production information included in the file on the film at the American Motion Picture Arts and Sciences library states that she was replaced by Edna Holland, who is listed in the onscreen credits.

CAST (as credited):

Sidney Toler: Charlie Chan
Mantan Moreland: Birmingham Brown
Ben Carter: Benjamin [Brown]
Benson Fong: Tommy Chan
Teala Loring: June Harley
George Holmes: Hugh Kensey
Joyce Compton: Emily Evans
John Eldridge: Anthony R. Morgan
Russell Hicks: Warden Cameron
Tim Ryan: Foggy
Janet Shaw: Miss Petrie
Edward Earle: Thomas Harley
Ray Walker: Danvers
Milton Parsons: Johnson
Edna Holland: Mrs. Foss
Anthony Warde: Jimmy Slade
George Eldredge: Brand
Meyer Grace: Punchy

UNCREDITED CAST (alphabetical):

Chet Brandenburg: Convict
Frank Marlowe: Barker
Matthew McCue: Convict
Tom Quinn: Criminologist
William Ruhl: Thompson
FOR COMPLETE INFORMATION ON OUR FEATURE: Please go to http://www.charliechan.info/id56.html

THIS WEEK’S TERM: recap - To retread an automobile tire by replacing the worn out treading.Benjamin: "They can't recap them wrinkles."

THIS WEEK’S IMAGE: Anthony Morgan introduces June Harley to his friend, Charlie Chan, who writes down the name of a detective, himself, who will take on the case to try to clear her father of a murder conviction and save him from an imminent execution.



For a viewing of more than 500 images from ALL films in the Charlie Chan series and MORE, please visit our Gallery: http://www.charliechan.info/id48.htmlIF YOU LACK A COPY OF OUR FILM: Often our features can be found online. Happily, this is the case this week as “Dark Alibi” IS AVAILABLE online…COLORIZED! You may access it above at “THIS WEEK’S PRESENTATION” and also at our Chat Room as a link.

OUR MONTHLY POLL: Please take a moment to cast your vote in our AUGUST 2021 POLL, right here: August 2021 Poll

OUR JULY POLL RESULT:

QUESTION: Which film do you think has the best scene(s) with the Chan family?

“The Black Camel” 11%

“Charlie Chan at the Circus” 72%

“Charlie Chan in Honolulu” 17%

OUR CCF CHAT ARCHIVE: Please take a look at our growing collection of CCF Chat Texts from previous years and this year: Charlie Chan Family Chat Archive - 2021

NEXT WEEK (September 13): We will be sharing a viewing of TWO of “The New Adventures of Charlie Chan.”

AND… DON’T MISS THIS GREAT CHARLIE CHAN BLOG!: AND… DON’T MISS THIS GREAT CHARLIE CHAN BLOG!: A great blog site, The Postman on Holiday, is offered by our own Charlie Chan and Earl Derr Biggers expert, Lou Armagno which is: "A place to explore all things surrounding Detective Charlie Chan, his creator Earl Derr Biggers, and their connection with Hawaii, Cleveland, and mystery fiction." Updated each month, it can be found at this address: www.thepostmanonholiday.com

SO, REMEMBER, PLEASE JOIN US for this week’s feature, “Dark Alibi.”

THANK YOU SO MUCH…

Sincerely,

Rush Glick